High price

All eyes focused at the figure standing in the saloon´s entrance. It was a tall man in impressive uniform, of quite an old age, as the wrinkles already turned his face into the expression of someone, who had experienced many difficult life situations. Nevertheless, it didn´t lessen the impression which was radiating from the man and from his eyes, which had already seen too much of death, but were firm as the rock. And those very eyes paid a great attention to Math Grenet.

Only after Kame tore his look from that unexpected newcomer, he noticed also other men in uniforms. Four government soldiers were standing behind their leader, not to mention Captain Walker who just went inside the taproom. The shocked stares, which the saloons´ guests were sending through the windows, gasping for a breath, indicated much more companions of that compelling man. According to the sounds, which finally got to Kame´s ears, there had to be at least a platoon of soldiers on horses.

"And who the hell are you, old man, that you´re so sure about your competencies here?" overconfident Grenet snapped.

Maybe if that bastard had a little less alcohol in his veins, and only maybe then, he would have noticed that the man, to whom he talked so rudely, had not only a perfectly clean uniform, but there were also many insignias of his position. The most obvious one – two silver stars on his shoulder strap – revealed to everyone that the man was Major General.

When Kame asked Lena for sending a message to the nearest military base, he had only a faint hope that Walker would get back to Bozeman soon enough to stop Grenet from any more cruel actions, and he definitely didn´t expect such a high-ranked officer to come. The man´s appearance made a big impression on everybody in the saloon – on everybody except Grenet.

The military leader, very highly ranked in these somewhat ´peaceful´ times, moved forward slowly and the people let him go through immediately. Even Grenet´s men moved away. Only the brave group around Kame remained standing as the man approached the upset deputy.

"I believe you´re talking to Major General Ord of United States Army, young man," he introduced himself.

"And that´s supposed to be an honor for me, I guess," Grenet snorted.

"Depends on you," General stated calmly. "But I definitely require some respect to me as to each human. But as I heard and now as I can see myself, you do not respect anyone and anything at all."

Grenet´s face started to fill with blood, making it completely red up to both ears: "How dare you...!"

"I dare, believe me," the other man interrupted him sharply. "Can anyone tell me from what this man is accused?"

"The arson," Lena replied to General seriously. "He burnt down the house belonging to Kamenashi´s family. Mrs. Kamenashi was badly hurt. He also attacked our Sheriff, hitting him over the head. They´re both taken care of by our doctor right now."

The cold eyes focused at the girl: "Any witnesses?"

"Myself, Major General," Lena stated with determination, despite Grenet was killing her with his stare.

"So, you´re the one, who sent that telegram, right?" General assumed.

"Yes, sir," the girl nodded and Kame reminded himself to thank her a lot for that.

"And to that arson you can add the murder, General, if you don´t mind," another voice joined the conversation.

Kame´s heart skipped a beat seeing Doctor Best in the door.

"What do you mean by that, Doctor?" Captain Walker asked.

"Our Sheriff has just passed away," Dr. Best informed the full taproom. "Unfortunately, the hit was too hard, I couldn´t help him."

"I see..." General nodded seriously, turning back to the erupting man. "Math Grenet, by this, based on the power given to me, I deprive you from the title of Sheriff´s Deputy and put you under arrest for arson and murder. Take him away."

"What the fuck?! You can´t do this!" Grenet burst out.

"I can," General reacted just with two ice-cold words, while his soldiers approached Grenet.

None of the gunmen around moved, none of them dared to oppose the sudden dominance of soldiers.

"Do you have any idea, who I am?!" the former deputy yelled, fighting against strong men furiously.

"Somebody who belongs on the gallows," Mr. Brice was the only one who reacted.

Grenet had to be held by three soldiers, when they were taking him away; he was so angry and was resisting so much that they staggered on the way to the exit. Grenet´s totally pissed off eyes focused at Kame, as they came by him.

"I´m not done with you, baby boy!" Grenet sputtered. "Do not forget that! You will regret...! You all will regret...!"

"Lieutenant," General ordered to one of the remaining soldiers. "If he keeps making noise like this, give him a gag."

"Yes, sir!" the soldier saluted and left the saloon following his colleagues.

Kame accompanied the departure of the small group with his eyes, saying nothing at all. Lena was looking at his face worriedly, clenching his right arm with both hands. She was probably afraid that he would try to do something stupid again.

"Now, I understand why you wanted to rush so much, Captain Walker," Major General stated, after his soldiers took the raging man out. "Was he really the sheriff´s deputy?"

"Yes, sir," Walker confirmed, coming closer to the group. "And he´s also a subordinate of the certain man. I´m sure you´ve already heard about him – Raynold Karnaka."

"Yes, I´ve been informed..." General frowned, for the first time changing his calm expression. "I´d like to visit his residence later too. For now... Who is the owner of this saloon?"

"That would be me, Major General," Mr. Harada stepped forward. "Harada, my name is. You have no idea how glad we´re that finally some justice came into this city."

The old leader nodded his head: "Do you have any vacant rooms? I´d like to accommodate here."

"Sure, sir, but I´m afraid that not for all of you..."

"Don´t worry, my men will remain in their tents outside, just me and Captain."

"That´s all right then," Harada nodded, not even trying to cover his relief.

"Everybody else, please calm down," General looked around, paying his attention to the excited citizens as well. "Rest assure; we will settle the peace here."

The excited response was followed by Mr. Harada´s statement: "One beer for everyone on the house! I think we all need it..."

In general clamor, Dr. Best approached Kame placing the hand at his shoulder: "Come with me, Kamenashi, I think you should go to your mother..."

Kame´s breath squeezed in his throat again: "Is she...?"

"She woke up..." the doctor answered on the unspoken question, but his face didn´t show anything optimistic...

*

Kame was sitting on the chair next to the bed, on which his beloved mother was resting, holding her left hand. It still looked the same way, as he had always known it. It was the hand, which could prepare the most delicious meals for him, which punished him, if he turned out to be a too disobedient son and which comforted him, when he was sick. The warm hand of a mother, who would sacrifice her life for him...

However, it was supposed to be a pair of hands, not just one. Rosie´s right hand was covered with the thin layer of the bandage, as well as the whole arm, chest, stomach and leg under the blanket. Her grey hair was badly damaged too. Only the woman´s face remained almost untouched, and not being for the burnt eyelashes, it would still look the same as Kame saw it the last time. But it was not. His mother was far from being the same as just hours ago.

Kame was looking at the mother´s face with tears in his eyes, which he couldn´t suppress and he didn´t even try. He remembered the words of Dr. Best, which he told him before opening the door of this room. The words, which were stuck in his chest, that verdict of death, which ached in his heart and made him feel helpless...

"You need to know the truth, Kamenashi. Almost half of her body is badly burnt. She breathed in a lot of hot smoke, so it´s probable her lungs are damaged too. She´s in shock right now, so she doesn´t feel much pain, but it will get worse."

"But you can help her, right?" Kame asked, not able to stop his voice from shaking.

Doctor looked at him with a very serious expression: "Kamenashi..."

"You can do something to make her feel better, don´t you?" he insisted on his request.

"The damage is too extensive; I can ease her pain up, but..."

Kame stared at him still in disbelief, when the doctor continued.

"Gradually, her organs will stop working. Your mother´s body is poisoned with those burns. I´m really sorry, but I cannot do much for her."

"But... But..."

Kame´s world was collapsing again. Was it a punishment? What so much bad in the world did he do deserve this?

"Doctor... What can I...? Can I do... something? Anything?"

"I know it´s hard," Dr. Best said sympathetically. "You can stay by her side. First time she woke up, she asked for you. She needs to see you, Kamenashi."

So, he was here, at this bed, holding the beloved hand, which was motionless in his grip.

His mother´s breathing sounded awfully. Creaky, shallow and difficult, but she was still strong enough to open her eyes, when she finally noticed somebody came in and caught her undamaged hand.

Rosie blinked a few times, as if the weak lantern´s light was burning her eyes too.

"Kazuya..."

Kame almost started to cry aloud, when a weak smile appeared on her red lips.

"Mum..." he raised her hand up carefully, kissing the back of it softly. "I´m so sorry. I didn´t come back in time. This is my fault… I…"

"Honey, wait... I want to..."

"Mother, you shouldn´t talk, just..."

"No," she interrupted her son, squeezing his hand back with surprising power. "Listen to me, Kazuya."

Kame saw the desperate shining in the mother´s eyes and with a heavy heart, he just nodded.

"You didn´t bring... your friend to him... Did you?" she asked urgently.

His heart sunk so deep down that it felt like it disappeared somewhere in the floor.

"No," he whispered. "I... I just couldn´t... I wanted to..."

"That´s good," Rosie breathed out in relief, which surprised Kame so much it made him go silent again. "I´m happy... you didn´t. I raised you... well."

"Mum... I wanted to save you both," the silent tears were already flowing down Kame´s cheeks.

"I know," Rosie assured him. "I know... But he is safe, right?"

"Yes," there was nothing else he could say. He couldn´t tell her in how bad state Jin actually was.

"Good... Somehow, I´m glad you have him," Rosie closed her eyes for a moment, before opening them again and focusing at her son´s face. "You will not be... alone."

Some huge strange thing appeared in Kame´s throat, which didn´t allow him to react.

"Beware of Grenet," his mother managed to get through the weakening throat. "He is... He is..."

"He was arrested, Mum... Don´t worry about him, all right?"

Again, there was that weak smile, which stabbed Kame´s chest like a dagger.

"All right... But... But, Kazuya... I know you... And... if you have a chance for...revenge..."

"Mum..." Kame got scared, as the woman´s voice appeared to be worse with each word.

"Let me talk, son," the woman insisted, still with a bit of strict parental attitude, which had always made him obey. "If there is a chance... Avenge our family... Your father, brothers and me... But..." she took a deep breath. "Do not let it consume you. Do you understand? Revenging us... That´s not more important than..." Rosie´s speech was disturbed by the attack of wheezy coughing, during which Kame could only keep holding her hand and waited for the rest of what his mother wanted to say. "Your life is more important, Kazuya... Do not let them destroy it..."

"Mum..." Kame let go of her hand and went down on his knees, so that he could bury his head to the mother´s shoulder. "They already did it..." he stated desperately.

His mother moved with her hand slowly and stroked his hair softly.

"No..." Rosie said. "There is happiness for you, Kazuya... I know it... I want you to live...and be happy..."

"Mum..." Kame almost choked on the word, fighting against the sobs in his chest.

"Promise me... Promise me that...."

His mother stopped talking again and only the wheezing started to go through her throat. Kame´s head plopped up, staring at her face contorted in pain. He jumped on his feet, ran to the door and opened them so roughly that he almost destroyed its hinges.

"Doctor! Doctor, my mother!" he called desperately, still foolishly hoping there was something what could be done. Anything, just to keep his dear mother by his side...

***

The heaven was crying. The tiny drops were making the air damp and heavy, while the bigger ones, interlacing the drizzling curtain, were falling all the way down, soaking into the ground, and into the pile of soil ran up next to the black hole.

It was like the emptiness of that pit wanted to drag his soul inside, consume him and steal him from breath, to stop his heartbeat. He couldn´t even perceive a warm touch of the gentle hand or a voice of the old priest from the church in Livingstone.

Except himself, Lena, her parents, Mr. Harada and Dr. Best, there were many other people who gathered to give their last respect and goodbye to his mother. Not more than for their old sheriff´s funeral, that took place only a few minutes ago, but still a lot of Bozeman citizens. Despite that Kazuya was alone and lost among them.

He was just standing there motionless, watching as the priest blessed the simple wooden coffin, as they dropped it into that scary hole and as the citizens and his friends were approaching it, throwing the handful of wet soil down. Each portion of that ugly mud created a hollow sound from the fall on the wooden surface – many sounds, which pierced right through Kame´s heart.

One after another, the mourners, whose faces he didn´t see, left, leaving him at the fresh grave alone, with the Brice´s family behind his back.

"Kame? Would you like to go with us?" the girl´s voice reached to him, but the words had no meaning. "We can have a cup of tea or something..."

Kame had to take a deep shaky breath to be able of some reaction: "I would like to stay for a while. Alone."

That voice was horrible. Was it really him who said that?

Lena´s face was the picture of sorrow and pity, but she didn´t try to persuade him. She released her grip around his hand and stepped aside.

"All right... Just come later, we will wait for you..."

The small steps moved around him and further away. The girl and her parents left.

Kame stepped a little closer, and crouched down, keeping his eyes on the coffin in the hole. He knew this was the reality, which somehow turned out to be his worst nightmare, but still... It was almost impossible to accept it. He didn´t know how to do it, how should he handle that his mother was not around anymore? How could he keep going all by himself?

I want you to live...and be happy...

Kame´s eyes went wide. He heard it as if his mother´s voice echoed right into his ear, so clear the memory of her words was.

You will not be...alone.

Kame had to suppress an incredible urge to cry, when he remembered another part of his mother´s goodbye. She was glad that there would be somebody else in his life – Jin. And he needed him right now. Suddenly, Kame was so sure about it, as about nothing else.

"I love you, Mum... Let´s meet again one day," he whispered into the increasing rain and got up on his feet.

It was time to go, time to leave the place of the last rest... It was too soon for him to remain on the graveyard and there was nothing holding him in the city anymore.

*

Lena opened the door almost at the second he knocked at the wood.

"Come in, I´ve already..." she stopped her warm invitation, looking at Kame´s outfit and then at Ukushi standing below their veranda.

The girl closed her mouth, staring into the raining for a while, saying nothing. Kame didn´t know what to say either. The blue eyes returned to his face finally, with the deep sadness in them.

"Where will you go?" Lena asked quietly.

"To Blackfeet Tribe..." Kame reacted, avoiding the pleading look of the girl. He had no energy to deal with her feelings right now. Even though he felt a little badly leaving her behind like this, she had her parents and Grenet was sitting in jail, so he believed Lena would be all right.

"You can stay here, you know?" she suggested, making one more step forward, coming closer to him and reaching out her hand. "I´m sure my parents will not be against it, and I..."

"Lena," Kame interrupted her firmly and unconsciously stepped back, out of her reach. "I´m grateful, really. Thank you, but I can´t stay here. There is a place I need to be."

The blonde one retreated to the door, sad, but somehow reconciled with his decision.

"I understand... Will you come back?" she couldn´t help but ask.

Kame took a deep breath and nodded slowly: "Yes, I think so... Not too soon, but I will."

"All right..." it sounded more like a suppressed sob than a word. "I will miss you..."

"I´ll miss you too, Lena. But we will see each other again."

The girl moved and Kame didn´t step away from her this time, letting her hug him tightly. When she released her grip, he caught her face gently and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Thank you for what you did for my mother. I will never forget."

The dark blush covered the girl´s cheekbones.

"If only I made it in time," she whispered gloomily. "But don´t make this sound as a final goodbye, all right?" she taunted him after that. "You just said you´ll come back!"

"But you must not cry then," Kame reacted.

"I´m not crying," Lena murmured, blinking fast, but she couldn´t cover the shine of tears in her eyes.

At that moment, Kame realized that he would really miss the girl; it was not just a phrase to say for him. But that feeling, which was forcing him to rush from the city appeared again, with an even greater urgency.

"I had no time to ask about it till now, but did you manage to get the stuff from the room, as I asked you for?"

"Oh, yes, sure," Lena nodded. "I completely forgot about it. I hid it in my father´s shed."

"Fine. Can we go for it right away?"

"Of course, just let me take the scarf..."

Kame had an urge to go there by himself, just to grab the things and leave right away, but he saw how unhappy Lena was about his leaving, so he sucked it up and decided to hold on for a while yet.

*

With Ukushi being fully loaded with his and Jin´s stuff, Kame walked away from Bozeman City, leaving it behind along with the burnt, which was a horrible leftover of his former home.

He didn´t get far and was already stopped by Liwan, who was waiting for him outside the city together with the rest of warriors, who came here because of the rescue mission, which failed sooner than it could even begin.

Kame asked them to stay nearby, but to avoid the soldiers if possible, so they remained out of sight, even though Liwan wasn´t exactly thrilled from leaving him in Bozeman alone. And now, the young shaman was observing him with the deeply frowning look.

"Everything done?" he asked slowly then.

Kame nodded.

"And... Are you satisfied with... that ceremony?"

Kame stared at his friend for a while, before he realized that Liwan meant the funeral.

"Yeah... It´s all right, Liwan. My mother was a Christian."

"Hmm, but later we can serve a ceremony for her too, if you want. I think that Chief will order it anyway."

"We will solve this later. Will you help me with these things?"

"Sure," the Indian nodded and took the huge leather bag from him. "But Kame, are you sure you want to leave so soon?"

Kame avoided his eyes this time, focusing on fastening the strips on Ukushi´s saddle.

"There´s nothing for me here..."

Liwan handed the bag over to another Indian, and then came closer to him, putting a hand on his shoulder and making Kame look at him.

"I understand and I am glad you go with us again. But you have to rest as soon as we arrive to the village, all right?"

"Rest?" Kame repeated somehow confused.

Liwan looked into his eyes seriously: "When was the last time you slept?"

Kame hesitated. After that incident with Sioux rebels, Jin was in trouble. After he managed to get him out of the farm, they rode the whole night to get him to the old house of his family. Then there was Grenet, and the fire and his mother... How many nights was it? Three? Four?

"Well... I don´t remember..." he murmured not very willingly.

"That is what I talk about," Liwan frowned and squeezed his shoulder. "You should see yourself... Be careful not to fall down from Ukushi."

Kame just nodded, too tired to argue with him about not being a little kid anymore. Especially when deep inside he knew that he couldn´t handle much more before his body and mind would simply give up...

***

"What the hell?!!" Brad exclaimed so loud that his voice resonated in the whole taproom and even reached the ears of kids playing catch-up on the street despite the annoying raining. "Repeat it once again!?"

The saloon´s owner stared at him, remaining calm, facing his angry outburst, and kept polishing the glasses, when he repeated the information: "Our former deputy was arrested by Major General Ord for the arson and murder. He´s in jail at Sheriff´s Office, waiting for his trial."

Brad kept opening and closing his mouth a few times, totally dumbfounded. What the hell happened in this godforsaken hole while he was gone?

"And being on your place, I keep my mouth shut, otherwise you can end up the same way very easily," Harada stated, and stopped paying him attention.

Brad was literally boiling in anger. He and Marty were trudging in the fucking woods, in the rain, in the wind, in the cold, day and night under the danger of redskins´ arrows, for more than a week, looking for some stupid Indian village and now when they finally got back, Grenet was sitting behind the bars?

He looked around the empty saloon again, spotting only one figure, half-lying, half-sitting behind the table in the corner. It was Danny. He marched to him, grabbed the boy for the collar and pulled him up roughly. The strong odor of beer got into his nostrils, when the youngster opened his eyes for a narrow cranny and spoke.

"Hellooou...B...rad... Youu´re...back!"

That stupid kid was drunk as hell.

"What the fuck are you doing here, asshole?! What happened here? Why is Grenet in jail?!"

"Trouubles..." Danny murmured.

"Did you report this to boss?!"

The other one´s eyes got wide suddenly: "No! Not yet... I don´t wanna..."

"Get yourself together!" Brad let the boy go, so that he fell back into the chair. "I´m awaiting you outside in five minutes or I´ll teach you how to dance the alcohol out!"

"But... I don´t..."

"You´re coming with us! You´ll be the one to explain this to Karnaka!" Brad snapped and marched out of the saloon as an angry bull.

Harada followed him out with a quite gleeful smile, which he couldn´t and didn´t want to prevent. Finally, some justice was coming upon those bastards.

***

During the journey up to the mountains, Kame had fully realized why Liwan was worried about him so much. In the past days he didn´t have time to take care of own rest. The events were just running forward crazily, dragging him with the flow and not letting him even take a normal breath, not speaking about sleeping or proper food.

Only after the main source of his adrenaline vanished in the dark grave, the exhaustion caught up with his body. Gradually, it was more difficult to remain seated in the saddle and not being for his mind tortured with fear for Jin, he would have probably fainted right after they set off. But his worries kept him painfully awake.

It had been more than a day since he saw the older one the last time. Now he wondered if there was no better way to take care of Jin. Maybe they should have taken him to the city to Dr. Best, but at the time, he couldn´t know that Grenet would be put aside with cuffs on his hands. Not to mention that even without Grenet, there was still a threat that somebody from Karnaka´s subordinates would attack Jin.

There was no other choice than to try it in an Indian way. Not that Kame didn´t trust the old shaman, but Jin was in such a bad state...

Sinking in these thoughts, Kame followed Liwan´s lead through the woods toward the village. They arrived there late in the afternoon.

Behind the veil of light fog and drizzle, the pueblo seemed abandoned at the first sight. Almost all wigwams except two were put down; everything easily movable was taken away and old fireplaces covered with the coniferous branches.

Only as they came closer, Kame recognized the white smoke coming from the tops of both standing Indian habitations and a very young boy sitting in front of one. As soon as the little Indian spotted their figures through the mist, he jumped on his feet running toward one of the warriors who were coming back to welcome him.

Liwan dismounted his stallion first, going straight to the first wigwam, while Kame was going down more carefully, feeling his legs somehow not in control. He untied the strips, which were holding one of the bags to the saddle, put it down and then did the same with the wooden box. After that, he spotted returning Liwan and he turned to face him.

"He is inside," his friend pointed at the wigwam.

Kame gulped down heavily, seeing the frowning face of his friend.

"I will look for my father first. Wait there," Liwan added, before he could ask anything and called for the young boy, who was sitting there before.

Kame made his feet move forward and with the heavy heart, he pulled the entrance made from the thick fur aside.

There was warmness and shadows inside and it took a while before Kame´s eyes accustomed enough to recognize the lying figure in the dim light of a small fire. He put the bag aside and approached closer, kneeling down to Jin, who was carefully wrapped in many layers of blankets and furs.

The visible bruises already got the purple blue color, in the healing process, but Jin´s eyes were closed, the skin of his face unnaturally shiny, his cheeks dark red and the hair on his forehand wet from sweat. Kame´s heart sank deep into the dark depression, when he touched him and felt that Jin was still heated up by the high fever. Maybe even higher than the last time, when he was on Dr. Best´s clinic.

The other one didn´t react on Kame´s touch, his breathing was irregular and heavy. As Kame stared at that face, a horrible thought went through his mind. That he might lose Jin too. That would be something what he simply couldn´t bear. He would have rather lain there himself, instead of him, but he just could not lose him.

"Don´t you dare to leave me here alone, Jin..." the desperate words slipped from his shaking lips.